A few days ago, I was reading this forwarded email. I generally don't open emails marked with FWD immediately. It gets piled up till I go through them during the weekend maybe. This email, though, caught my attention when it arrived. The Subject read - "Team Science". Many of you out there must've read it too.
The article that the email carried was written in a very nice way. In about 20 sentences, it talked about being a team player and what goes into creating a successful team. I identified with every line of it.
Once you are in line for a Lead position, we hear the sentence - "You are as good as your team is..". To me, that sounds kinda silly! The Lead certainly needs to set an example to the team and all that, but, he needs to be an innovative person and a person who should be atleast 2 steps ahead of the team - LEAD FROM THE FRONT. To be able to do that in today's world is something quite challenging. Technology-wise, he needs to keep abreast of what is going on and know beyond just plain common stuff. Management-wise, the team should think what he is thinking. Only when there is an identity of minds, there will be a better understanding of things. The article actually reframed it as - "The team is as good as you are".
In today's world, we are crushed for time. Most leads are trying to find that 25th hour in a day to complete work, however organized and capable they are. Well, its not just about organization and ability, it has more to do with SUPPORT and UNDERSTANDING. Support from team mates, peers, people you report to and sometimes even people from other teams. Help is always needed somewhere or the other. Let us say that I am leading a team reporting to a Dept. Head, who, does not consider or even listen to what I have to say and just keeps asserting his/her own point of view everywhere, even if, it sometimes makes no sense, it does a lot of damage in the relationship and the chain of displeasure, frustration, irritation, loss of interest is built. That is when attrition levels boom. It is a "pass on" culture, your frustration is passed on to the next one and the next one and so on.
Being proactive is something everyone appreciates and it is a quality everyone needs to imbibe. As human beings, we are not always proactive about everything. We are reactive about some and proactive about some others. Its not a good leadership trait to preach pro-activeness, when, actually, you arent pro-active yourself, but, your management book says so. Such expectation will make your workmates uneasy around you, leading to a lot of unpleasantness and irritation. If you have a team that is, well, a big mix of character, its always good not to expect change in the root.. meaning to say.. you play around with the surface.. unless.. if the person is willing to change the way you want him to.
Another thing I've noticed quite a lot and sometimes do myself - playing the advisor. If you form the middle layer between a team and a head, well, you get it both ways and have to give it both ways. But, things are not so easy always. About 60% of the time, you are playing the dead poodle. 20% of the time, you hear it from upstairs and aren't really able to say much to your team.. just keep 'em yourself. The rest 20% is split into two 10 percents where you play the monkey. Keep running to both ends till you finally catch the ball and take it home. The "dead poodle" act is something that is really what is bothering. This is where you really need to work things out silently and play it out. Everything thinks you are dead, but, you are actually silently strategizing your next move. Playing the Advisor comes in all these percentages, you gotta talk to the people around you and make sure your point gets through. The minute your bullets hit the walls, JUST STOP! or mom will shoot!
These are just a few points that I've learnt the hard way.
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